District 5 Diary

Saturday, September 13, 2014

The US is shocked, shocked about violent athletes

North Dallas Forty was made in 1979, and it accurately portrayed football as a violent game.

There were drugs...

And there was sex and a casual, offhanded sexism.

A few years before North Dallas Forty, there was Semi-Tough, which was mostly about sex---and of course a casual sexist assumption---not violence. But it included a great parody of EST. Bert Convy even looked a lot like Werner Erhard.USA Today is keeping score of NFL players arrested, and the Niners are well-represented on the list. The Ethicist in the New York Times asks "Is it wrong to watch football?" He thinks it isn't, but I bet a lot of people are unconvinced.Interesting to note that the two scenes in North Dallas Forty where Nick Nolte and Mac Davis share a joint aren't included in the movie's trailers. Somebody could make an interesting documentary on marijuana in the movies, much like The Celluloid Closet did for gay scenes back in 1981. I remember seeing Paul Newman roll a joint for Geraldine Page in Sweet Bird of Youth in 1962, and didn't Cher and Meryl Streep share a joint in Silkwood?